Stuck In A Painting
by Hadespuff
Summary: One shot about when Phineas Nigellus didn't believe Dumbledore. Takes place towards the end of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
Phineas Nigellus walked swiftly out of his picture hanging in Dumbledore's office. He did not run, for he had more dignity than that, but even he had to admit that as soon as the office has no longer in view, he sped up into almost a jog. He would not believe that what Dumbledore said was true until he had more evidence. Sirius would not be so stupid as to get himself killed.

As Phineas came into his second portrait, he looked around the room as though it barely interested him. If Sirius was in the house, and Phineas stilled refused that he wasn't, Phineas would not want to be caught worrying for his great-great grandson. Seeing no one in the room, Phineas thought of where some other photos were.

He knew that Sirius would have taken down most of them, but there was surely some that would not be able to come off the wall. The one of Walburga, Phineas thought, would be stuck on the wall with an assortment of spells. However, Phineas did not want to see her, and decided to only go to her painting as a last resort.

As far as he knew, there were no family paintings, or and wizard paintings, in Sirius's room. There used to be a painting of a tree in the second floor sitting room, so Phineas thought he would give that one a try. As he started walking from his portrait to the picture of the tree, a knot of worry formed in his stomach. As the dead tree came into view, along with the sitting room, the knot of worry formed into panic. Sirius was not in the room.

A bit more frantic, Phineas began to run to the other paintings in the house. Sirius was not in any of the rooms that he could check. Shaking now, Phineas ran from the third floor all the way down to Walburga's portrait. When he got there, it was extremely dark and crowded. Walburga, who had been muttering under her breath, gave a start and turned to face Phineas.

"My, my. Who is in my picture? I thought that that traitor had taken down all the paintings with people in them. Letting filth into my home and ridding it of everything he could that had to do with my family." She paused, seeming to wait for Phineas to answer her. When he did not, still a bit winded, she carried on, "Are you from a picture _they_ hung up? You are in alliance with MUDB-"

"Walburga, is that anyway to talk to me?" Phineas cut in, not wanting to hear her screaming about blood traitors and mudbloods.

Walburga let loose a gasp as she heard the voice. "Nigellus, I didn't know your picture was still hanging up. I thought for sure that the filthy hands of those unworthy things would have taken you down."

"Rest assured, Walburga, that nobody would be able to take down my picture," Phineas said rather coldly, "but that is no why I am here. I was wondering if you know the whereabouts of your son, Sirius."

For a moment, there was dead silence, broken by Walburga laughing crazily. "That filthy blood traitor is no son of mine. Regulus was my only son, I tell you. Making me proud, such a fine Death Eater he was. But Sirius? No, he had to get into Gryffindor and befriend mudbloods. No son of mine, no son of mine."

Phineas sneered at her even though he knew it was to dark for her to see. "That's great, really, but absolutely useless to me. Now, do you know where Sirius is?"

"No, of course not. Why would I keep track of where traitors are? He could be dead for all I care, inviting half-breeds into my house."

And although Walburga continued to rant, Phineas didn't hear a word she was saying. He ran from Walburga's portrait and began revisiting everyone of the paintings in the house. His panic raising, his throat tightening, he yelled for Sirius. He did not care anymore what anyone would think if they saw him, he just did not want to believe that Sirius was dead.

After awhile of yelling, Phineas heard Walburga's voice yelling from downstairs also. "FILTHY MUDBLOODS! BLOOD TRAITORS, HALF BREEDS, IN MY HOUSE!"

Phineas ignored her. "SIRIUS! SIRIUS, WHERE ARE YOU?! ANSWER ME, SIRIUS!"

He did not know how long he yelled for. When he finally stopped, Walburga's voice kept on yelling. Phineas barely heard her. He should not have gotten attached to Sirius. He should not have started to care for him. Phineas know that the feelings he had weren't exactly real, that the _real_ Phineas Nigellus was dead. They were now practically two different people.

When Sirius went on to wherever he was going, the real Phineas might not even know him. Phineas, that is to say, the Phineas in the picture, would always be with the living, never get to go and be with the people he grew to, well, love who had died. He was stuck alone with the other pictures and paintings.

He had grown to believe that he and the real Phineas where somehow different people. Yes, they both had the same experiences up until _Phineas_ died, but Phineas lived on through a painting. He then went through things that _Phineas_ never had.

As Walburga's screaming continued, Phineas sank down to his knees. His voice was hoarse as he whispered, "Shut up you vile woman, Sirius is dead. He is dead and you don't care one bit."

If they could have, Phineas knew, tears would be sliding down his face. He also knew he wouldn't have cared who saw.

 **Has anybody seen the Black family tree? Any pure blood family tree, really. They are so confusing, I am not kidding. Anyway, I finished rereading the fifth book recently and had this idea, so I decided to write it. :)**


End file.
